(Sporting Alert) — College postseason football schedule continues on Monday with three more bowl games.
The fixtures kick-off at 2:00 PM ET with Texas A&M and West Virginia battling for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Aggies (7-5) will be making its sixth consecutive bowl appearance and hunt their fourth consecutive bowl victory.
Both teams have been preparing for a while for this contest in Memphis, and A&M’s coach Kevin Sumlin reveals that his guys are ready to close out the season with a good performance.
“It’s about time to play the game,” Sumlin said. “Coaches, players, there’s a lot of familiarity in this game and we’ll see where that goes on Monday.
“We’ve won some big games and lost some games that we probably could’ve won but just didn’t.
West Virginia and Texas A&M are two of the nation’s top offensive-minded programs, which likes to throw the ball a lot.
The Mountaineers (7-5) are averaging 314.6 yards per game and rank 9th in the nation in passing yards, while the Aggies are at 12th overall with 306.4.
Back-to-back defeat to Missouri and LSU in November had left the College Station-base team disappointed at the end of the regular season, but Sumlin says things are back to normal and is bracing for an exciting game of football, which will showcase “some explosive players.”
“We’ve got some explosive players on both teams,” he noted. “A lot of times in bowl situations, there’s different scenarios as far as the excitement of the players and being ready to play.
“I have no reason based on the way that our week of practice has gone to believe that our guys won’t be ready to go.”
The Mountaineers (7-5) will be without regular starting quarterback Clint Trickett, who announced last Friday that he was ending his playing career after sustaining five concussions in 14-months.
“It would be dangerous for me to be out there,” said Trickett, who has thrown for 3285 yards and 18 touchdowns with 10 interceptions this season.
“I really am ready to move on. Even if I couldn’t have played just to get back and practice with the guys because I really wanted to finish it out.
“In my family we’re big on (finishing what we started) and it’s just unfortunate that I couldn’t be able to do that.”
There are also two other bowl games on the schedule for Monday, as No. 17 Clemson (9-3) will take on Oklahoma (8-4) for the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Texas and Arkansas will meet in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
The Sooners, led by standout freshman Samaje Perine, who is ranks eighth in the nation in rushing — are ranked 9th overall as a team in rushing yards, at 268.6, and face a Clemson side which has only 153.0.
At the same time though, the Tigers’ top 10 ranked defense, which is holding teams to 17.6 points per game, could make life very difficult for the Sooners, who are scoring 38.9 points per game on offense.
Monday, December 29
COLLEGE BOWLS TIME (ET)
Texas A&M vs. West Virginia – ESPN/WatchESPN
Time: 2:00 PM
AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL
Oklahoma vs. No. 17 Clemson – ESPN/WatchESPN
Time: 5:00 PM
RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL
Arkansas vs. Texas – ESPN/WatchESPN/ Longhorn Network
Time: 9:00 PM
ADVOCARE V100 TEXAS BOWL
